Archinect - News

AI designer and multi-story 3D printer among ICON technologies unveiled at SXSW

2024-03-12T16:00:00-04:00

Construction technologies company ICON has unveiled a suite of new technologies at SXSW, including a multi-story robotic construction system and an AI-powered design system.

At a SXSW event dubbed ‘Domus Ex Machina,’ the company also presented a new low-carbon building material for 3D printing alongside a digital catalog for residential 3D printed architecture containing more than 60 designs.

Phoenix multi-story printer. Image credit: ICON

“In the future, I believe nearly all construction will be done by robots, and nearly all construction-related information will be processed and managed by AI systems,” said Jason Ballard, ICON Co-Founder and CEO, announcing the new systems. “It is clear to me that this is the way to cut the cost and time of construction in half while making homes that are twice as good and more faithfully express the values and hopes of the people who live in them.”

Phoenix multi-story printer. Image credit: ICON

Among the new technologies unveiled is Phoenix, ICON...

NASA tests autonomous construction robots for future use in outer space

2024-02-06T11:09:00-05:00

NASA has unveiled details of a robotic system designed to construct and maintain structural components in space. The system, developed by NASA’s Automated Reconfigurable Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems (ARMADAS) team, consists of inchworm-like robots that may one day assemble, repair, and reconfigure structural materials in orbit, on the lunar surface, or on other planets, before humans arrive.

A Scaling Omnidirectional Lattice Locomoting Explorer (SOLL-E) builder robot carries a small building block called a voxel – short for volumetric pixel – as it maneuvers, stepping inchworm-style, along the exterior of a mechanical metamaterial structure. Image credit: NASA/Dominic Hart

NASA’s system revolves around a set of 3D building blocks called voxels, which resemble a wire-frame soccer ball. Made of strong, lightweight composite materials, the voxels combine to create a system that, according to NASA, is comparable to current high-performance structures such as bridges, aircraf...

Meet New York City's window-washing robot

2023-08-18T13:47:00-04:00

Skyline Robotics is disrupting the century-old practice of window washing with new technology that the startup hopes will redefine a risky industry. Its window-washing robot, Ozmo, is now operational in Tel Aviv and New York, and has worked on major Manhattan buildings such as 10 Hudson Yards, 383 Madison, 825 3rd Avenue and 7 World Trade Center [...]

Automation has entered the building maintenance field with AI-powered window-washing robots appearing on Manhattan's high-rise facades.

The technology could signal a shift in the workforce traditionally assigned to this task, from human teams to lone robots controlled remotely, potentially from anywhere in the world.

Robots assemble a domed timber pavilion designed by the universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg

2023-08-15T11:16:00-04:00

The University of Stuttgart and the University of Freiburg have partnered on the construction of a domed timber pavilion on the University of Freiburg campus which seeks to showcase an “integrative approach to design and construction for sustainable architecture.” The livMatS Biomimetic Shell at the FIT Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies will serve as a research space for the development of innovative, cross-disciplinary research ideas.

Image credit: Conné van d'Grachten

The design of the building envelope is based on the morphological principles of the plate skeleton of sea urchins, which have been researched at the University of Stuttgart for over a decade. For the pavilion, the segmental shell construction was further developed as a highly insulating structure for year-round and permanent use, with the combination of two partial shells of different shapes and sizes creating an opening skylight.

Image credit: Con...

Boston Dynamics’ robot dog Spot equipped with ChatGPT to allow conversations with human companions

2023-05-04T11:39:00-04:00

Florida-based AI solutions company Levatas has equipped Boston Dynamics’ famous robot dog Spot with ChatGPT and Google’s Text-to-Speech model, allowing the robot to answer questions about past and future missions. Humans can talk to the adapted Spot model using normal language commands, with Spot able to instantly parse high volumes of information and use insights from the data to answer questions.

“These robots run automated missions every day,” tweeted machine learning engineer Santiago Valdarrama, who worked on the project. “Each mission uses miles-long, hard-to-understand configuration files. Only technical people can handle them. At the end of each mission, the robots capture a ton of data. There's no simple way to query all of it on demand. That's where ChatGPT comes in. We show it the configuration files and the mission results. We then ask questions using that context. Put that together with a voice-enabled interface, and we have an awesome way to query our data!”

We integr...

Autonomous construction robot IronBOT launched to reduce rebar installation times

2023-03-23T13:13:00-04:00

Pennsylvania-based Advanced Construction Robotics (ACR) has unveiled its latest robot designed to handle rebar on construction sites. Named IronBOT, the system can lift, carry, and place up to 5,000-lb bundles of horizontal and longitudinal rebar.

According to ACR, the robotic system requires no pre-programming, pre-mapping, calibration, or BIM input, and instead automates rebar placement based on the user’s spacing requirements. The company also claims the system can be mobilized on a construction site within 4 to 8 hours and can operate day or night.

IronBOT’s release comes six years after Advanced Construction Robotics released TyBOT, an autonomous system that can tie together steel reinforcement bars. According to the company, a construction site that uses both IronBOT and TyBOT can reduce rebar installation times by 50%.

“We are confident the combination of TyBOT and IronBOT generates a disruptive technology, meaning the time and cost savings are so significant on a job that i...

Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas lends a hand on the construction site

2023-01-19T11:49:00-05:00

Boston Dynamics has released a new video showcasing the capabilities of their humanoid robot Atlas. The one-minute-long YouTube video is set within a mock-up construction site, with Atlas seen assisting a human construction worker on scaffolding.

Playfully titled ‘Atlas Gets a Grip,’ the video shows Atlas moving a timber plank around the mock-up site before picking up a tool bag to toss up to a construction worker on an elevated single-story scaffolding platform. As with past Boston Dynamic videos, Atlas ends the sequence in style by performing a backflip off a wooden crate.

Video via Boston Dynamics on YouTube

Entertainment value aside, the video offers an insight into the evolving capabilities of Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot and its ability to manipulate the world around it. By interacting with objects and modifying its surroundings in pursuit of a defined goal, the company seeks to demonstrate the evolving ability of robots to assist in heavy-duty human tasks, including compl...

Robotics company behind machine that automates construction layouts secures $9.4 million in Series A funding

2022-04-26T16:12:00-04:00

Rugged Robotics, a Houston-based developer of construction technology, raised $9.4 million in Series A funding. Similar to Dusty Robotics, Rugged offers a robot to automate construction layout. Rugged’s Mark I marks architectural and engineering designs directly onto concrete floors so workers know where to build. The robot is available for commercial use, which the company delivers via layout as a service (a derivative of Robots as a Service).

The funding round was led by BOLD Capital Partners and Brick & Mortar Ventures, along with Riot Ventures, Morpheus, Embark, Consigli Construction Company, and Suffolk Technologies. This latest capitalization round brings the company’s full funding to around $12 million. Rugged Robotics plans to use the investment to accelerate the robot’s deployment, expand its product offering, and make additional hires.

Rugged Robotics was founded in 2018 by Derrick Morse and Logan Farrell, a NASA engineer. In 2019, the company raised $2.5 million by way of a seed funding round.

Automated rebar prefabrication startup raises $8 million in Series A funding

2021-07-01T18:38:00-04:00

A New York-based construction robotics startup that makes prefabricated rebar cages for concrete structures has announced that it has secured $8 million in a Series A funding round.

The round was led by Tribeca Venture Partners and featured Blackhorn Ventures, Point72 Ventures, New York State, and Twenty Seven Ventures. This follows a $3 million seed round raised in late 2019.

The company, Toggle, was founded in 2016 by Daniel Blank and Ian Cohen. Toggle automates the rebar assembly process, combining its software with industrial robots and heavy material handling equipment. This allows the company to produce building materials in a safer, more productive, and more precise manner, thus able to deliver them at a lower cost and faster speed.

"At a time when global construction is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, Toggle offers a way to add capacity while saving time and cost on some of the largest types of projects," said Toggle CEO, Daniel Blank. "We are especially grateful f...

Foster + Partners explores using robot dog on construction sites

2020-11-11T12:18:00-05:00

Foster + Partners has been exploring the use of Spot®, the robot 'dog' that can meander through construction sites to capture and monitor project progress. The architecture firm's involvement comes as part of Boston Dynamics' Early Adopter Program. Foster + Partners' Applied Research + Development group (ARD) has been working with Boston Dynamics to investigate the potential benefits of using Spot to capture changes on a regular basis, allowing the team to "easily compare the 'as=designed' models against the 'as=built' reality."

Spot can be controlled remotely and is capable of autonomously following a pre-mapped route while avoiding obstacles.

Martha Tsigkari, Partner, Foster + Partners said in a statement, "The ability of Spot to repeatedly and effortlessly complete routine scans, in an ever-changing environment was invaluable not only in terms of the consistency but also the large amount of high-quality data collected. Through this process we developed a sequence of scans that ma...

Robot builds two-story brick house

2020-10-29T12:03:00-04:00

Perth, Australia-based robotics company FBR – formerly known as Fastbrick Robotics – has built its first two-storey house using its Hadrian X block-laying robot, which has been in development since 2015.

According to Global Construction Review, "it was the first time the robotic block-laying approach incorporated steel reinforced concrete columns and a concrete floor slab placed atop the structure’s first story."

Autonomous robot dog deployed at Denver construction site

2020-05-28T19:15:00-04:00

After months of testing by multiple general contractors, Boston Dynamics’ Spot the robot dog is being put to use in a real-world scenario, at the Denver International Airport’s multibillion-dollar expansion and renovation project.

According to Construction Dive, Hensel Phelps employees have used the autonomous machine to perform multiple scans at the airport's Great Hall jobsite. Using Spot Walk, an application developed by Boston Dynamics, the robot can travel the same preplanned route to document project progress on the jobsite.

This robot can draw existing conditions all on its own

2020-01-27T14:35:00-05:00

Autodesk Innovator of the Year Amr Raafat has teamed with a robot software company to develop an autonomous laser scanning and layout planning robot that is being used on Windover Construction work sites. The robot is able to move around on uneven surfaces to predetermined locations to scan indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as to measure and draw plans for walls and spaces that would need to be meticulously measured by a human...

This new development allows workers more time onsite for more essential tasks, absolving them of the tediousness that comes with measuring and documenting site conditions. According to Construction Dive, Raafat explained how laser scanning can take up to 16 minutes per space, which can be costly and time consuming. However, the this kind of work is essential in maintaining accurate BIM models and in accurately tracking construction progress.

Robots for construction, agriculture, restaurants and homes: property developer Country Garden invests heavily in robotics

2020-01-20T18:16:00-05:00

China’s largest property developer by sales Country Garden is planning to start mass production of construction robots next year to cut costs and raise efficiency, it said on Friday. The group, which started investing in robotics research and development in 2018, said it aims to have at least one robot at each of its sites across the nation.

According to Reuters, Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd. has signaled its intention to invest more than $2 billion in robotics each year for the next five years to boost automation in the company's construction, agriculture, restaurant, and property management businesses.

To showcase its technological prowess, the Chinese mega-corporation just opened its first robot restaurant (now China's first fully automated eatery) in the city of Guangzhou.

With 32 industrial robots in the kitchen alone, handling everything from food preparation to cooking, and further AI-powered robots guiding guest to their tables and taking orders, Country Garden has reportedly dropped $29 million on this restaurant prototype — which the company's founder, billionaire Yang Guoqiang, hopes to replicate 1,000 times across China within two years.

Autonomous robot patrols and documents construction sites

2020-01-16T18:21:00-05:00

Ziva is a two-wheeled, image-capturing robot that Casta describes as a temporary closed-circuit TV for jobsites. The robot, which can travel up to 11 mph and has a 12-hour battery life, utilizes cameras and facial recognition software to identify people and vehicles present and if they’re allowed to be in the area

Developed by British company Casta Spes Technologies, the robot is designed for security surveillance and documentation of construction sites and can autonomously navigate the jobsite.

Robot "dog" can autonomously document construction progress

2019-11-27T13:00:00-05:00

Construction software company HoloBuilder Inc. has announced a partnership with Boston Dynamics, maker of mobile robots, to develop SpotWalk, which the firm claims is a first-of-its-kind robotic document capture app for construction sites. ...the robot [can] walk around job sites autonomously and capture 360-degree images that record construction progress, thus creating digital, recordable data of the project over time.

According to Construction Dive, Hensel Phelps tested the new technology on a recent project and found its application to be efficient and time-saving. A spokesperson for the contractor said that the robot "removes a time-consuming step while providing accurate construction photos with a high degree of fidelity," reports Construction Dive.

The autonomous nature of this application would allow project teams to document construction progress more frequently, allowing for more consistent documentation and enabling project staff to focus time on other tasks.

Bricklaying robot gets to work delivering "wall as a service" construction

2019-10-22T14:05:00-04:00

The Australian company promoting the brick- and block-laying robot Hadrian X has entered a series of agreements with housebuilders in Australia and Mexico with a view to getting demonstration homes built. Fastbrick Australia, a joint venture between Hadrian X inventor Fastbrick Robotics (FBR Ltd) and Australian building supplies company Brickworks Building Products, hopes the agreements will get traction for its “Wall-as-a-Service” concept in the two countries’ sizeable home-building markets.

FBR's Hadrian X robots can build multi-room structures from 3D CAD models with no human intervention. In addition to new contracts with Australian and Mexican entities, the company has also inked deals with builders and fabricators in Saudi Arabia and Austria, among others.

A recent test using one of the Hadrian X robots, according to the FBR blog, built a three-bedroom, two-bathroom "full home structure" made up of 2,420 "Hadrian-optimised blocks" that generated only 5.5 blocks' worth of waste, or roughly 0.2% of the overall total.

Carlo Ratti has invented a vertical robotic plotter for your home

2019-09-12T13:30:00-04:00

According to the team's Kickstarter page, Scribit is a write-and-erase robot that allows you to draw any content sourced from the web—and update it in real time.

See the video below for some words from Italian architect Carlo Ratti, the inventor of the new technology:

Meet the bricklaying robot that can build a house in 3 days

2018-12-20T11:56:00-05:00

The 180-sqm, three bedroom, two bathroom structure was completed in under three days by Hadrian X, a new version of the robot.

Designed by an Australian company, Fast Brick Construction, the first version of Hadrian X was unveiled in 2015. Today the robot is capable of building and assessing a house from start to finish. Throughout its testing at the factory, it succeeded at completing a two-course structure, involving all combinations of brick cuts, sizes, and layering configurations; a larger two-room house from CAD model as well as an eleven-course pillar built from slab to cap height.

When supplied with a 3D model, the machine converts it into code that then uses proprietary software to calculate the location of every brick in the building. Once a concrete slab is laid, the laser-scanning technology surveys the foundation and then loads and arranges bricks using a 28m articulated telescopic boom. The components are held together by a special adhesive applied to each block through the robotic laying head. Hadrian X's laser alignment system provides an accuracy of within 0.5 mm.

Bionic construction worker: robotic exoskeleton coming in 2020

2018-12-14T14:40:00-05:00

An electric exoskeleton that enables the wearer to lift 90kg for extended periods has been introduced by US firm Sarcos, and is due to be commercially available in 2020. [...] The Guardian XO Max has a strength amplification of 20 to 1, making 45kg feel like 2.3kg. The full weight of the suit and anything being carried is transferred through the suit’s structure to the ground.

According to the manufacturer, American robotics firm Sarcos, the untethered suit's batteries last for up to eight hours on a single charge.

Prototype of the Guardian XO Max industrial exoskeleton. Image: Sarcos.

The drywall-installing robot you've always dreamed about is finally here

2018-10-02T14:00:00-04:00

The HRP-5P is a humanoid robot from Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology institute that can perform common construction tasks including — as we see above — install drywall. HRP-5P — maybe we can call it Herb? — uses environmental measurement, object detection and motion planning to perform various tasks.

Ever had to install large sections of drywall and wondered if there wasn't a machine available that could do that for you while you take care of a bowl of nachos? Well, now there is: Japanese researchers have developed a humanoid worker robot, HRP-5P, which appears to be capable of performing the backbreaking task over and over again without breaking into sweat.

Sure, the robot still needs to pick up the pace a bit to meet construction deadlines, but it's a start, and the machine could—maybe, one day—become a helpful tool in Japan's rapidly aging society where skilled workers become increasingly rare.

Ooof, these are heavy!

Let's see...this one goes here I guess.

Done and done! Now let's see what my buddies from Skynet are up to this afternoon.

All images via 産総研広報's video on YouTube.

Meanwhile in San Francisco: deploying security robots to keep away homeless people

2017-12-13T13:27:00-05:00

In San Francisco, autonomous crime-fighting robots that are used to patrol parking lots, sports arenas, and tech company campuses are now being deployed to keep away homeless people. [...] Last week, the City of San Francisco ordered the SF SPCA to keep its robot off the streets or be fined up to $1,000 per day for operating on sidewalks without a permit [...]

When you're in Silicon Valley, everything looks like a tech solution. The same logic has been increasingly applied to San Francisco's overwhelming homelessness crisis where a growing legion of security robots — armed with lasers, sensors, cameras, and GPS — have been autonomously patrolling parking lots, campuses, and now also public sidewalks to deter houseless neighbors from setting up tent camps.

One local non-profit recently drew the ire of the City of San Francisco though for operating their security robot "in the public right-of-way without a proper approval."

Attempts of incapacitating and attacking the SPCA robot have been reported, including feces of unknown origin smeared on it.

TyBot: a robot invented for tying steel reinforcement bars in construction

2017-11-16T13:47:00-05:00

Tybot is a robot recently invented that can tie together steel reinforcement bars saving time and reducing risk in construction projects. Thousands of joints must be tied before pouring the concrete, however this step has traditionally been labor intensive, hazardous, and a cause for major delays in the building process.

This robot is the first offering from the firm Advanced Construction Robotics (ACR) launched by construction firm boss Steve Muck and robotics expert Jeremy Searock. The machine only requires transportation and setting up the frame using the existing infrastructure, which can be done in half a day's work. TyBot is then ready to go to work, often at night, needing only one worker supervising it in operation.

Click below and watch TyBot in action.

Considering the downsides of Smart Home technologies

2017-08-17T14:52:00-04:00

Essey is an engineer at Uber and an early adopter of the Internet of things. He can control his lights with his Amazon Echo or an array of touchpad sensors he has installed throughout the home. Sensors tell him when there's water in the basement or a leak under the sink. While Essey's setup might sound a little like science fiction, it's a prototype of the future. Some critics are worried these devices won't be secure and that companies will use them to spy on us to make money.

As the Internet of things becomes more ingrained in our daily lives, some people are turning ordinary homes into smart homes. One way of doing that is by integrating smart appliances (dishwasher, fridges, microwaves, toasters, etc). That strategy, however, can be expensive and not very efficient, since most of the devices are costly and often are not smart enough to communicate with each other, especially if produced by different manufacturers.

The other way is to get sensors, and put them on everything you want to monitor. "But then those get really unwieldy and you've got all these things sticking around and they look ugly and socially obtrusive," Gierad Laput, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University says. Laput and his team, in fact, built such a sensor. When plugged into the wall, the 2-inch-square circuit board senses about a dozen different facets of its environment: vibrations, sounds, light color and so on. The sensor communicates wirelessly with a computer, which inte...

Roombas have been mapping out our houses, and big tech is eager to buy that data

2017-07-25T17:46:00-04:00

The Roomba robotic vacuum has been whizzing across floors for years, but its future may lie more in collecting data than dirt. That data is of the spatial variety: the dimensions of a room as well as distances between sofas, tables, lamps and other home furnishings. To a tech industry eager to push “smart” homes controlled by a variety of Internet-enabled devices, that space is the next frontier.

Most of the available on the market 'smart home' devices, including lighting, thermostats and security cameras are still quite primitive when it comes to understanding their physical environment. All robovacs use short-range infrared or laser sensors to detect and avoid obstacles, but iRobot in 2015 added a camera, new sensors and software to its flagship 900-series Roomba that gave it the ability to build a map while keeping track of their own location within it.

Colin Angle, chief executive of Roomba maker iRobot Corp, said iRobot would not sell data without its customers’ permission, but he expressed confidence most would give their consent in order to access the smart home functions.

Apple, Google and Amazon have already heavily invested in iRobot.

Robot gives a helping hand as Taubman College breaks ground on new school addition

2015-04-15T18:43:00-04:00

On April 15, 2015, University of Michigan's President Mark Schlissel and Taubman College Architecture and Urban Planning Dean Monica Ponce de Leon broke ground with donor, A. Alfred Taubman on the new wing of the Art & Architecture building. [...] The ceremonial shoveling of the ground was performed by Taubman College's Kuka robot, normally used for architectural digital fabrication research, painted maize and blue for the occasion.

Previously: University of Michigan revives plan for architecture school addition and doubles budget to $28M

Also, don't miss our recent Dean's List feature with Monica Ponce de Leon, the Dean at UM's Taubman College.

Robot Ray Parks Your Car At The Airport

2014-11-03T13:08:00-05:00

Are you in a hurry to catch your flight and still need to find a parking place? Meet Ray, a shiny robot that parks your car at Düsseldorf Airport in Germany. Ray makes sure you don’t have to park miles away from the terminal, eliminating the hassle of finding a parking place. Just drop off your car within a few meters from the check-in area [...]. When you come back from a holiday or business trip, the robot will make sure your car is ready to go when you walk out of the airport.

Robotics Challenge: Creating the Disaster Response of the Future

2013-12-19T14:39:00-05:00

The disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant marked the beginning of the "Robotics Challenge." Developers were rankled by how helpless robots were as they wandered through the radioactively contaminated reactor building. As they swerved around aimlessly in the steam, cables broke and the operators lost contact with the robots. [...] They compiled a list of eight tasks that robots would have to master in the future to be capable of performing well in disaster response.

Phantom Geometry, Winner of the SCI-Arc Gehry Prize 2012

2012-10-23T17:09:00-04:00

Husband-and-wife team, and 2012 SCI-Arc graduates, Liz and Kyle von Hasseln are the recipients of the inaugural Gehry Prize. The couple was recently presented with the prize for their outstanding masters thesis Phantom Geometry, a unique 3D printing method developed in the SCI-Arc Robot House with advisers Devyn Weiser and Peter Testa. This summer, the school had received a $100,000 gift from architect and SCI-Arc trustee Frank Gehry for the establishment of the institute's annual Gehry Prize.

Previously in the Archinect News: Frank Gehry establishes annual "Gehry Prize" for SCI-Arc

USC on the Moon

2011-11-21T18:29:05-05:00

USC Professors Behrokh Khoshnevis (Engineering), Anders Carlson (Architecture), Neil Leach (Architecture) and Madhu Thangavelu (Astronautics) have completed their first visualization for their NASA research grant into the potential use of Contour Crafting robotic fabrication technology to build structures on the Moon. [...] Contour Crafting was recently voted one of the top 15 innovations most likely to change the World. The question now being addressed is how it will change the Moon.

For more information on Contour Crafting, visit contourcrafting.org.